halloweaning
in which old traditions give way to new and also TICKETS ON SALE for 12/14 at Rockwood
hey hartlist,
“I’m changing”, I recently said to someone. “I’m just not sure into what.”
JUST THE GIGS
11/27 The Chrysalis Livestream 58: WINTER IS COMING 4:00PM ET
12/14 Annual Winter Solstice Show @ Rockwood Music Hall 7:00PM
Tickets on sale now - full band!
FROM THE CHRYSALIS
I was born with Mercury in Retrograde, and while as you know I don’t Officially Believe In That, I do sometimes wonder if that’s responsible for my relationship to Change. I tend to revere tradition, adore routine, and have been known to fight tooth and nail to hold on to a relationship, identity, or fabric that - as a stylist friend once said while throwing out one of my dresses - “has seen its day”. (Fine - I’m also a textbook Cancer.)
On the other hand, I’m easily distracted, delighted by variety, and am rarely involved in fewer than two projects at once. So, who knows. (Fine - I also have Venus in Gemini. Damnit! Enough of that.)
Of these revered traditions, one of my favorites has always been Halloween. Speaking of:
… in case you missed it. 1
Case in point; I opened that set with Loreena Mckennitt’s ‘All Souls Night’, simply because it has been The Song I Sing On October 31 since I first heard it in college (while trailing a long black shawl behind me en route to my first Tarot-reading job at the local bookstore). I haven’t always done Halloween exactly the same; after all I’ve loved this holiday since I was a tiny theatre kid whose idea of heaven was ‘I’m in Costume AND eating candy’, and that’s what the day was about for me. But ever since I discovered the link to the Celtic ritual of Samhain (or, ‘Summer’s End’), which gave rise to our modern festivities, my Oct 31 has been geared toward some kind of ‘out with the old; in with the new’ type action. And for the past 10-15 years (!), that action has been pretty much the same: people come over, I make dinner, we write down and burn something we’d like to be rid of, and then pull a Tarot card to represent the year ahead. Tradition tells us we are “between the worlds” on this night- no longer what we were, and not yet what we are becoming. It’s always been really beautiful and meaningful and fun. With the added bonus (for me) of not having to take a subway in New York on Halloween night.
Pause to say that this week I found out that someone who is both an old friend AND a reader of this newsletter had no idea that I read Tarot… so, just in case, feel free to explore over here .
Anyway, of course this yearly practice changed over time, as my (and everyone’s) spirituality both deepened and broadened and there were various personnel and lifestyle changes (less time, less energy, less alcohol tolerance) as well. But it was an event I couldn’t imagine not doing, until this year, when I … didn’t.
No bells, no whistles, no fanfare. I just thought about doing it, and then it was November 2, and I hadn’t, and it was fine. What I did instead: a very exciting read-through of my & Jacinth Greywoode’s musical IRON JOHN: an american ghost story, in person!! with a fantastic cast at our agent’s office on 10/31… followed by an unexpected and rigorous bout of storyboarding a new musical (!) with my nephew (age 7) and niece (age 9) the next day. (This was their idea. “Poofball Panda and the Gem of Heart’s Desire”, coming soon to a theatre near you.) These were both immensely satisfying collaborative experiences and great examples of leaving the old behind and staying open to the new. You really don’t know what you have or don’t have until you just leap in and are forced to decide, say, what the gorilla’s name is going to be and what the elephant’s “I Want” song is all about.
I know I say this all the time. (But, you have to admit, not usually in these terms.)
Also, the new draft of IRON JOHN would not exist had we not said, at some point, ‘What about Halloween as a deadline?” And that is a ritual magic I will always be in awe of. By naming something, we begin to bring it about. By cutting away things that no longer work, we begin to hear what the future might sound like. We realized that the ending we’d been striving for for four years was not actually possible, but that something else was. Will it play? Remains to be seen. (More on this topic later).
‘Between the worlds’ - the state of Becoming - is a powerful place to be. It occurs to me now that we always declared what we were ‘banishing’, but we always asked what was to come. Not just because we can’t know (we can’t be sure we’ll get rid of what we ‘banish’ either), but because an open mind is a creative necessity. Our preconceived notions and desires are limited. If we’re available to the unexpected, (ie, Poofball Panda Commission), we can then decide what to do with it. And the outcome might be more interesting than anything we could have planned.
… Remember when this newsletter used to be about my band? IT STILL IS
Get tickets to the December 14 Rockwood show now and have all your Winter Solstice Ritual Needs taken care of in advance.
See you next week,
Rebecca
informal poll: would you guys rather get the whole livestream replay after the fact, or one song from it?